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The Minute Hand Phenomenon in the Clock Test of Patients With Early Alzheimer Disease

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, thomas.leyhe{at}med.uni-tuebingen.de, Geriatric Center at the University Hospital of Tübingen

Monika Milian, MSc

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen

Stephan Müller, MSc

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen

Gerhard W. Eschweiler, MD

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Geriatric Center at the University Hospital of Tübingen

Ralf Saur, MSc

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Section of Experimental Magnetic Resonance of CNS, Department of Neuroradiology, University of Tübingen Tübingen, Germany

Common scoring systems for the Clock Test do not sufficiently emphasize the correct time representation by the clock hands. We compared Clock Drawing, Clock Setting, and Clock Reading in healthy control persons, patients with mild cognitive impairment, early Alzheimer disease and progressed Alzheimer disease particularly analyzing clock time representation. We found that healthy control persons and participants with mild cognitive impairment did not show any impairment in Clock Test performance. Patients with early Alzheimer disease could be discriminated from healthy control persons and participants with mild cognitive impairment solely by misplacement of the minute hand in Clock Drawing and Clock Setting. The progressed Alzheimer disease group showed significantly more impairments in all Clock Test variants. It is assumed that early stage Alzheimer disease patient deficits in Clock Tests are mainly determined by a reduced access to semantic memory about the appearance and functionality of a clock.

Key Words: clock reading • clock setting • clock drawing • cognitive impairment • dementia

This version was published on June 1, 2009

Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, Vol. 22, No. 2, 119-129 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0891988709332941


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